The Miami Heat have acquired the No. 44 pick in tomorrow’s draft, the team announced in a press release. In exchange for sending that second-rounder to South Beach, the Atlanta Hawks will get a conditional future second-round pick and cash considerations.
The acquisition of the pick gives Miami a ticket to participate in the second-round. The club had previously dealt away its own second-round pick and thus only had one choice heading into Thursday’s 2019 NBA Draft.
With a pick in the mid-40s, the Heat could hope to land a potential rotation player like Admiral Schofield or take a swing at higher ceiling, raw prospect like Jalen Lecque.
The Hawks approach the trade from a different perspective. The club previously had six draft choices, an excessive amount given the logistics and reality of onboarding six potential rookies onto an NBA roster.
While the Hawks will get a future asset out of the deal, technically, the 2024 second-round choice would only convey if the Cleveland Cavaliers finish the 2023-24 season with a top-five finish. In essence, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel writes that Atlanta sold the pick.
Given their glut of draft choices, the Hawks have been transparent about moving some picks via trade. Yesterday ESPN’s Jonathan Givony caught wind that the team had offered it’s No. 8 and No. 10 picks to New York for the No. 3 pick but were rejected.
The Hawks may continue to shop their picks around as I speculated when it was first reported that the Pelicans were dangling the No. 4 pick inbound from the Lakers but it’s unclear if New Orleans would move from their stance of hoping to acquire a veteran guard or big.
